Thursday, 21 January 2016

The Chicken Diaries - Week 2

Oh dear.

Mary started limping the other week and now is looking pretty lame. Her right leg looked as if it was dislocated at the hip and it was rotating at a weird angle. She would walk with one leg twisted a full 180 degrees and was in fact scrambling along, rather than hobbling. She could still move it and grip with it and scratch her head but she looked really awkward.

I did take pictures of them at 2 weeks.

Bubbles

Cacciatore

Mary

Spot

Heaps more feathers in, and Cacciatore has tail feathers coming in.

However, on 21 January I took Mary to the vet to see if I could do anything for her about her leg. The vet said that chickens can do well with their leg amputated but she was too young for an anaesthetic, and that she had actually broken/dislocated her knee joint which was causing her pain when we touched it. The leg was also warmer than the other leg, indicating it was inflamed or swollen, and the vet advised that I euthanase her, so I did, sadly. We explained to my son what had happened, and he had lots of questions about what happened to her and why is she going to sleep, but we said she had to go to chicken heaven because her leg was too sore. He asked if he could get another Mary, and I think we will, but I might get a purebred heritage chook so we can have a varied flock. And I want a hen not a rooster!

So now I am down to 3 chicks. I weighed them last week:

(Clockwise from top left - Bubbles, Cacciatore, Mary, Spot).

I weighed them today and they had put on a lot of weight!

Mary - 150g (weighed at the vet)

Spot - 165g

Bubbles -146g

Cacciatore - 136g

I'll weigh them again at the 3 week mark, and see how much weight they put on in just 4 days!